Posted by Not Dave Pine
a resident of another community
on Oct 23, 2013 at 8:52 am

This should be called the Dave Pine Plan. None of the 3 redistricting plans under consideration were chosen. At the last minute, Dave Pine working quietly behind the scenes to influence the Redistricting Committee to do some last minute gerrymandering District 1 to ensure his re-election.

You see if we had District voting instead of County voting in the last Board of Supervisors election Gina Papan would have been the District 1 Supervisor not Dave Pine. Dave Pine knew this and had to work to get his District reshaped to capture his supporters.

Unfortunately, the Gerrymandering of District 1 required the rest of the County to be rebalanced and this had the most adverse effect on Menlo Park. In redistricting the worst thing that can happen is for a city to be broken evenly into 2 districts. This ensures that the city has minimal influence in those districts while cities entirely within 1 district have maximum influence with regard to protecting the City's interests at the County level.

What is ironic is that people like John Woodell and Kirsten Keith who worked tirelessly to get out the vote for Dave Pine got their city fractured. No good deed goes unpunished in Party politics.

Posted by Not Dave Pine
a resident of another community
on Oct 23, 2013 at 10:29 am

50-50 is always the worst solution. Emerald Lake Hills could have easily been put into District 4 and more of Menlo Park could have been put into District 3.

Menlo Park was only the residual effect of Dave Pine's undue influence on the Board of Supervisors. When the Board of Supervisors puts re-electing one of its own over the good of the community then it is time to vote the bums out. All of them!

Posted by Good riddance, Woodell/Keith!
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on Oct 23, 2013 at 9:12 pm

Someone has FINALLY revealed Woodell's and Keith's true reasons for trying to push their way into various campaigns under the guise of "volunteering," "supporting," and/or "helping." Can you say "quid pro quo???" Thank goodness Dave Pine doesn't feel that he's beholden to Woodell and/or Keith, which says a lot about his character versus Woodell and Keith's.

I hadn't thought of these new district lines as weakening Keith's political position. Woodell/Keith have done nothing "for the good of the community." They only do things if it benefits them and wreak havoc as a result. Can you say "drama?" Candidates beware!

Posted by Good riddance, Woodell/Keith!
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on Oct 24, 2013 at 11:27 am

maps:

"Not Dave Pine" is rambling and doesn't make sense [Portion removed; don't speculate on the identities of other posters]. The relevant point is that he and Keith have a quid pro quo mentality. Sooo, "Not Dave Pine" is not happy that Keith didn't benefit from these new lines and felt that Keith should have been rewarded (by Pine) by empowering her with new district lines to more easily elect her to the board of supervisors because she and her husband worked on Pine's campaign. How is that "for the good of the community," as "Not Dave Pine" suggests? It is not.

The bigger question here is what does an alignment with Woodell/Keith mean for the community and other candidates? In this election cycle, there are a few campaigns Woodell is involved with:

1) MP Fire Board race, helping Carolyn Clarke and Jack Nelson. What has come of this? Clarke's misleading representation that she is a CPA. Clarke has already confirmed that Woodell is helping her. Nelson has been so under the radar that I wonder if he even has a campaign going! We know that he can't run a board meeting and that the union is pretty much funding his campaign.

2) Since I live near the RWC border, I understand from friends there that Woodell has been helping a council candidate for the RWC Council race. That candidate is Corrin Rankin. Rankin sued another candidate for using an incorrect ballot designation, instead of just talking to the candidate. She also sued the RWC City Clerk, and the city council had to settle. I'm sure this was to get publicity for Rankin, but again, it's "drama!" Now, she has been sued twice in the last two weeks.

The common theme in all this is drama. I think Woodell and Keith, who seems to be (or pretends to be) oblivious to her husband's activities, are constantly seeking attention for themselves or candidates they're supporting.

Posted by Gov't out of control
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on Oct 24, 2013 at 1:17 pm

I did not see a link to the District map. If you look at the map on the county page, Menlo Park is divided between the landlords and the tenants essentially. One does get the sense that East of El Camino in MP is being written off for future blight with all these specific plans and new units needed. I really feel sorry for the people who plunked down over a million dollars for new homes in the last 10 years between El Camino and 101 in Menlo Park, and the tenants who now have to pay on average $2000/mth for a one bedroom apartment. Remember, the old money west of ECR is paying the old property taxes due to Prop 13.

Posted by trolling
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on Oct 25, 2013 at 12:59 am

Good riddance should take note. The Almanac endorsement of Clarke in 2012 clearly describes her as an accountant Web Link not a CPA. Clarke's literature and smart voter page from that election Web Link include the CPA society, which is accurate. Making this an issue now is simply an old fashioned lynching by people that never supported Clarke.

Good riddance has also proposed that people living on the border of Redwood City are telling their Menlo Park neighbors about Corrin Rankin. This is unlikely. The only people that would be gossiping about this are the candidates convinced Rankin is going to be elected over them. The only people that would be interested in such gossip are, well, the trolls that crave attention by posting here anonymously.

Posted by Good riddance, Woodell/Keith!
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on Oct 25, 2013 at 9:49 am

Whatever, Trolling!

I still stand by opinion that when Woodell/Keith are involved with anyone's campaign, there is always drama. That includes Rankin at this point. Perhaps, Rankin's campaign manager, Darcy Brown, feels compelled to do damage control and may also be posting anonymously.

As for anonymous postings, you would be in the same boat as would Woodell and Keith. You know what they say about glass houses.

The point is that the electorate are much better off now that Keith's base has been diminished after these lines were drawn.

Posted by Insider
a resident of another community
on Oct 25, 2013 at 10:13 am

Rankin was just copying what Keith did when she sued Slocum. Copying a failed candidate was a poor decision and probably the result of bad advice. It might cost her the election. At least she did not put a billboard on 101.

Posted by Good riddance, Woodell/Keith!
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on Oct 25, 2013 at 10:33 am

Insider: Great point! At least Rankin does not have a billboard on wheels with her big image on it so that someone [portion removed] can "vandalize" it for media attention. Rankin would look interesting with a pirate's patch over her eye, a blacked out tooth, and a tooth with a dollar sign on it.

"Copying a failed candidate was a poor decision and probably the result of bad advice"- well, Woodell is probably involved with Rankin's campaign, but based on her filings, Darcy Brown's firm City Strategies out of SF, is Rankin's campaign "consultant." I wonder if that's where Rankin's "bad advice" is coming from. But Rankin as the final say as the candidate. If she is making poor judgment calls during her campaign, think of how she would be as a RWC council member.

What was the final outcome of the accusations that Woodell removed campaign yard signs of his wife's opponents? I think one was Bernstein's & there was another candidate too. I usually disregard Bernstein's rants but he may have been correct in that instance. There were some interesting questions raised about the Woodell/Keith tactics.